Remember those trashy romance novels tucked at the back of grocery stores? These small pocket novels would try to fit in with the other magazine-based publications that the store had to offer. The outlandish covers would easily give them away, though — they would almost always feature a muscle-clad horseback rider and a woman in a silk dress kneeling right beside him with a hand draped across his chest. They were all marked pretty cheaply, and any page you turn to would describe a scene that was not suitable for younger readers.
Well, they have a spiritual successor in the form of HD videos available on dozens of apps. ReelShort, DramaBox, Shorten, Soda Reels, My Drama. Those are just five examples; you can easily find at least 50 platforms in the Google Play Store.
Each of these apps features an entire catalog of “vertical dramas” — all of them low-budget, soap-opera-like series, with most consisting of 50 episodes or more. There’s even less money invested in these than in a Hallmark movie or a Tyler Perry show (an entire micro-drama series costs around $250,000 at most). Here’s the catch, though. Each entry is usually less than two minutes long. Oh, and every one of these apps wants you to empty your wallets like there’s no tomorrow. With titles like Yes Mr. CEO, We Have A Baby, Seducing Daddy’s Best Friend, and Teach Me Touch Me, there’s really no question about what you’re getting into.
Vertical Dramas Make Too Much Money
In terms of the drama genre, you’re essentially entering the bottom of the barrel. To be fair, some shows seem cleaner, like I Love You More Than Life, Restarted Love, Conflicted Hearts, and In Her Shadow. They’re actually made all over the world, so content will vary a bit, but the fact remains. Even when better-quality titles are found on Netflix, Prime Video, or even Tubi, these super-obnoxious apps are still generating a substantial amount of revenue.
Of course, we can blame TikTok, Facebook Reels, and other short-form video content for the birth of this sort of thing. But these scripted, entertainment-based apps are taking the style to an entirely different level. According to a July Medium article, these absurd apps generated almost $700 million within the first three months of 2025. Two of these apps — ReelShort and ShortMax — have even overtaken TikTok’s advertising power. But who has the patience to sit through these types of shows?
To fully immerse yourself in the latest trend of consumer content, you either need to purchase coins, become a VIP, or watch ads constantly. Approximately $15 can get you 20 episodes on average, or unlimited viewing costs $6 to $20 per week, depending on the app. Considering the high costs and low quality, it’s hard to justify why so many viewers are paying. Now, there’s obviously a niche for this sort of thing — the racy grocery store novels already prove that — but it’s hard to believe that so many people are falling for these.
However, the actors and the actresses deserve to be separated from this troublesome new form of entertainment. They actually bring a beacon of light to this raunchy roulette of soap opera apps. They all do a great job of dedicating themselves to the thinly thought-out roles, all the while conveying a believable character to the screen. For the actors, however, the experience is entirely different. There are already a number of Reddit posts by those who star in these, wondering if there is a negative side to listing these roles on their resumes or if AI is writing the scripts.
The latter’s not usually the case; it’s more the language barrier (China to the US) rearing its ugly head. As you can see, a negative rebuttal is also emerging within this industry. When micro-dramas like Swallow Me Whole, Entangled With My Rich Call Boy, and My Secret Deal With the Playboy start making the big bucks and Hollywood inevitably somehow folds to this kind of sleazy formulation, what’s going to happen to cinematic art?
